Pages

Thursday, April 21, 2016

Slovakia: Far-right party urges remembrance of hanged Nazi-era president

A Slovak far-right party demanded a minute’s silence in parliament on Monday to mark what it called the murder of the head of the Slovak wartime Nazi puppet state who was hanged for treason in 1947; the chamber’s head refused the move.

The People’s Party-Our Slovakia party shocked many in a March election when it won three times as many votes as expected to enter parliament for the first time, mirroring a rise in far-right support around Europe and becoming an unwanted partner for other Slovak lawmakers.

On Monday, the party led by Marian Kotleba called for a commemoration of the 1939-45 State president and Catholic priest Jozef Tiso in an open letter to the parliament’s chairman.

Tiso allowed tens of thousands of Slovak Jews to be deported to Nazi death camps and was tried for treason after the war.